The Trans-Spatial Hyperslug with Links
Tales of the Union: Inspired by SCI FI The Trans-Spatial Hyperslug ' '© 2014 Vanessa Ravencroft Short story Union Year 5060 (OTT) -1- The United Stars of the Galaxies with its 5521 distinctive member societies spread over several galaxies and the many known sentient species were ample proof that the universe was teeming with life and notion that life could only manifest in certain conditions has long been dismissed. Life could be found everywhere and in the most unusual environments. The United Stars commonly known as the Union perhaps the most successful multi society civilization at least in the know history and within the limits of known space, found pride and strength in its diversity. – Michael Horlik and his oldest son had left the settlement early, he had promised Pat to take him to the hot vents in the Mountain Lake Valley up north. It was an four hour drive with the rugged crawler cat, but it was always worth it. Not only were the Lake mountain s a spectacular site, but you could always find the beautiful coppery native Scaly foot snails . The snail's foot was very unusual in that it was armored with iron-mineral scales. It was protected by scale-shaped sclerites composed of iron sulphides greigite and pyrite . A bucket of these snails could be sold for good credits at the local Xchange . Pat was now 14 years old and he diligently saved every credit he could towards a Sky Master flight belt and a bucket or two of these snails would bring him a good deal closer to the 1900 credits, a Sky Master belt and suit sold for. Michael watched as his son used tongs to pick the tough gastropods , that thrived in puddles of boiling mineral rich water and laughed as Pat almost slipped and cursed like a space pirate in a E Class space port tavern somewhere in Freespace . “Watch your mouth, son. If your mother hears you cursing like that she's going to wash your mouth with bleach. Where did you learn to curse like that anyway?” “Yuukzz . He managed to get all sixty episodes of Pirate-hunter .” “If Yuukzz father find's out that you two watch this for adults only Virtu trash , he's gonna tan your friends behind and perhaps yours too.” Pat popped another snail in his collection bucket. “You won't tell him right?” Michael was not only the father to his three sons but also their best friend. “Well I just pretend I haven't heard it.” Michael and his long partner contract wife Yvonne had come to Steamvale colony sixteen years ago, After 40 years as geologist for the Union Science corps and spending almost that long aboard a Union explorer , he decided to start a family. He had always dreamed becoming a colonist to a new world. He contacted BoCA (the Bureau of Colonist Affairs) and they suggested Steamvale, a beautiful rugged Class A4 Garden world deep down in the Coreward fringes , and about as far as one could go from Union core and still be in the same Galaxy and within Union space. Only a decade ago he would never decided on settling on a fringe world, but the war was over and the Kermac and their Thralls were soundly defeated and became very fast nothing more than a side note in galactic history. The Union was now quite likely the biggest kid on the block so to speak and none of the known civilizations had the desire to anger the Union. Sure there was some trouble in the Small Magellanic Cloud with a species called the Ence , but that was in a different galaxy altogether and 200,000 light years away. The latest news on Galnet news reported that Admiral Stahl was on its way to the SMC to explain to the Ence a thing or two. Michael deeply grinned at that and was certain, the Ence would understand the Eternal Warriors explanations very fast. Pat came back to the crawler to get another bucket. “I think If I can fill another one, I will have finally enough.” “Well you got about another hour before we have to drive back.” “You should have bought a flyer instead of that slow crawler. Once I have my flight-belt I can make it to the mountains in less than an hour.” “We are on a fringe world my son. If a flyer breaks down, I can't fix it and the post ship only cones every two weeks. I can fix the crawler and Gerki stocks most of the parts I would need.” Pat had to agree that his father made sense and took another bucket. Suddenly the air fizzed with electricity, and a unmistakeable crackle of static energies was as everywhere. The hairs on their arms stood on end. They both witnessed an enormous, bizarre creature that somehow had the looks of a tremendous and very alien snail emerged from the lake. It was huge and shimmered in many colors. Michael raised his PDD and recorded the sudden appearance of that thing that was at least 500 meters long. The creature took no notice of them as it kept o rising now fling towards the sky. Whit a sharp crack two circular rings of whitish energies appeared and the flying thing entered those rings, appeared to be stretched and disappeared with a thundering boom. Michael still held his PDD in recording mode and it took him a few moments to come to his senses. – The man walking across Andromeda Plaza in the Union government district of Pluribus Unum looked like a female supermodel, with long legs, pink hair reaching to the very female shaped hips and a delectable apple bottom. His name was Alyn Sundertyr and he was a Saresii . All Saresii appeared that way, perfect females of incredible beauty. Over a million years ago when the Saresii joined the Seenians in a war against the Dark Ones , they suffered tremendously. All their colonies had been destroyed. Billions and billions of Saresii lost their lives. The women blamed male arrogance and tendency to violence for the catastrophe and a group of women swept away the old council and replaced it with an all female dictatorship, prohibiting men from any active role in their society. The so called anti male hysteria lasted for nearly 100,000 standard years. During those years some men started to disguise themselves as women to escape discrimination, prosecution and reprisals. This eventually became a way of life and integral part of their society. They could not completely eliminate the male element as they realized it was necessary for a healthy gene pool. There were many Terran jokes when the Saresii joined the Union and it took the Saresii much longer to be accepted than the most alien non humanoids to be fully accepted. Like all Saresii, Alyn was psionically gifted, her Heidelberg Psi Index of nearly 2000 made her a very powerful Psi-Talent even among the Saresii. While he took the Union Psi Laws very serious, it was not illegal to “hear” open thoughts. Just as it was not illegal for a being with ears to overhear acoustic conversations. He was very used to the occasional male thought of sexual induced admiration and the questioning thought if the Saresii was a genetic woman or not. The weather was exceptionally mild and the local G type star , Pluribus was high in the cloudless sky. Weather control had promised to keep the weather like this until the end of Green Week . The mild breeze brushed through his long hair and made the almost insubstantial mini dress of Archa Spider silk flutter like the wings of a butterfly. Andromeda Plaza was just two miles south of the immense Assembly sphere and the very center of the mighty Union. A flock of Sky Tumblers gathered as a massive Nul was spreading bread crumbs. A Klack Sugar water vendor served two Klack and a human child with ice cold flavored sugar water. A group of juveniles raced each other, wearing Sky-master flight belts and tried to impress each other with the craziest aerial acrobatics. Two Union Marines proudly wearing their uniforms talked to a Kilonian Centipede. A gang of gleaming S-34 service robots swept the already spotless marble like surface and gathered whatever speck of dirt might have been present. Pluribus Unum was mega city covering an entire continent, but it was a clean and open city with a very low crime rate. This idyllic snapshot of Union life was more or less a perfect statement of the state of this incredible multi cultural society. Alyn, was as much as perhaps every Union citizen quite proud of this and that is why he often chose to take a stroll from the exit of the Andromeda Plaza Trans Planet mover to the Ivory tower of the Science Council , his destination. Of course he could have taken a Bubble Taxi or one of the slide belts, but there was no particular hurry. As he walked in his high heeled sling back sandals, he more or less overlooked the expensive dressed man with sun glasses standing by an Info bot booth watching him pass by. His psionic mind brushed over the man and noticed nothing. Of course nothing unusual, many citizens and every government employee was Psi shielded. Alyn forgot about the man as soon as he had seen him. He passed through the solid light doors of the Ivory tower. – The man at the info bot however had not forgotten about Alyn and with a blink of his eye he activated his Data brain and a secure GalNet connection. Talking without using his voice , by sending the verbal impulses of his speech center to the cerebral interface was not as easy as it sounded, but once used to it,it was as easy as talking for real. “I just spotted Alyn Sundertyr heading for the Ivory Tower. I suspect they send her to Steamvale to investigate. She is one of the Top Investigators for Work group Olympus .” A voice transmitted directly into his ear nerve responded right away. “It's a he. Dr. Alyn Sundertyr is the Deputy director of Olympus. We need to find out if they take the sighting of a Hyperslug serious.” “Sorry, can't help you there. I never make it pass the Hardlight doors, they only let those pass who have the right CITI .” “We know. Your new orders are to travel to Steamvale and verify the sighting.” “What am I going as?” “Silver-hawk Agricultural Product buyer . We are downloading the new identity to your CITI right now.” “Perfect.” – Alyn reached the 299th floor of the five thousand meter tall building, that was known throughout the Union as the Ivory Tower. It was the head quarter of the Union Science council . There was a department for every conceivable science. Six hundred floors were dedicated to the Science Corps and the massive Explorer fleet . Another 200 floors buzzed with the constant activity of the Xeno Biology division . Work group Olympus was one of the smallest and public virtually unknown departments. They investigated myths and legends. They did research on Entities and collected the millions of stories and rumors that were part of every known civilization. Alyn walked past the reception desk, at first seemingly unoccupied but at closer look there was a greenish shimmering specter, a wafting insubstantial green vapor in the rough shape of a somewhat human being. In every respect there was a ghost behind the counter. Two glowing orbs of faint light at the spot where one would suspect eyes and a quite solid looking belt seemed to float in mid air at the apparitions waist line. Alyn waved at the spooky vapor . “Good morning Cartbeer , aren't you supposed to be off this week?” The voice of the presence came form the belt and it said. “Yes Alyn, but Lecee asked me to cover for him as he wanted to go to the funeral of his Sip Sap. How could I refuse?” “Poor Lecee, he was so attached to his Sip Sap , how did he take the sad news?” “Well he sort of expecting it, 300 years is very old even for a Leedei. He was still quite sad.” “I can imagine.” The ghostly being extended a foggy arm and pointed down the hall. Dr. Lycia Brightmoon and Director Narth are already expecting you in conference room four.” Alyn smiled and thanked the Antoo , then proceeded to the conference room. The Antoo was member of a a very old species. The Antoo decided to take the next step in sentient evolution and shed their corporal existence to become an entity of pure thought. They experimented for millenia and believed they found a way to achieve this. The transition experiment went horribly wrong and trapped the Antoo halfway between the standard universe and a different spatial plane. The whole story and the subsequent attack and crisis caused by the Vengeance Spirits of Antoo , was a not so distant event that nearly ended in a terrible catastrophe. Alyn had been involved in that and this is why she had switched from being a top agent at the PSI Corps to the Work-group Olympus. Those events never were far of her mind, especially as she met a true godlike entity during the course of those events. But she put these memories to the back of her mind, Cartbeer and the seventy-thousand Antoo Ghosts that became Union members were as trust worthy as any other Union Member. In the small modern appointed conference room with a oval shaped conference table and floor to ceiling view ports that allowed a spectacular view over Andromeda Plaza and the Assembly Sphere in the distance, two beings waited for her. One of them was a beautiful woman with a mas of coppery red hair framing her face and the other a deeply shrouded Narth. The red head was a real female, but calling her a woman would be a far stretch and the being in the black robe and the face covering hood, a real Narth. Since Narth had no individual names he was called Narth-Director and he was the leader of Work-group Olympus. The Narth greeted her first.”One detects a feeling of pleasure in oneself by your presence, Dr. Sundertyr. The human custom of wishing one a good morning is quite illogical and a concept that still eludes me, but please consider yourself greeted like that.” “Good morning to you as well, Narth Director and to you Dr. Brightmoon.” “I find it a very nice human custom of wishing one a good morning.” “But you have been among humans for 3,462 standard years and thus more accustomed to these illogical concepts. One fails to comprehend how a sequence of words would make a morning good. What are the universal accepted parameters that make a morning good. Would failing to make such a wish turn a morning less than good? Of course the concept of wishing itself is quite illogical.” The Narth spread his arms. “However one is certain that this is a subject not requiring a conference, but more observation and thought.” Alyn smiled. “A conference or conversation about the meaning of Good Morning would certainly no waste of time, Director but I have been summoned for a different matter, I presume.” “How can you waste time ? Please do not attempt to explain. One will discuss this with the Narth Supreme. One does however evaluate your presumption as a logical conclusion.” “Well I am glad,this is the case.” The red head said. “A goat farmer of the Steamvale Colony witnessed the appearance of a Bebytan and its use of a trans-spatial doorway.” “Sorry Dr. Brightmoon. I am not familiar with that term, what is a Bebytan?” A field screen established itself above the table and the footage of a huge slug like thing emerging from a water lake rising in the air and then disappearing was shown, and repeated itself. Dr. Brightmoon said. “This is only one name of many for this creature. It is the Seenian name. I used it to illustrate its age. This creature is part of the so called Universal legends . You know legendary myths and stories that are known to more than one space faring civilization. This particular myth has been known to the Seenians over a million standard years ago. Our resident Bellebee Data miner, Jorku discovered references to this creature by 743 different sources and societies.” Alyn nodded. “As we all know, Universal legends usually tend to be true or have at least a considerable core of authenticity. Just as the myth of the Dark One turned out to be quite real, but what makes this creature legendary,other than the fact that it is old and can fly?” The Ice Cats of Talag worship it as a god of great destructive power. The Saran mythology describe the thing as a messenger of doom and only appears before an impeding catastrophe. Your own people, the Saresii of the First Age of Knowledge believed it is a sentient being that comes from another plane of reality. The Seenians are more pragmatic and consider it to be a space born organism that is able to use a form of Psionics to travel great distances in an instant. As a matter of fact, Jorku came across a Seenian record where the Queen orders it to be captured and to be researched for its space traveling ability.” To the Narth, Alyn said. “Do the Narth have any legends regarding that being?” “Narth do not have legends or myths of course. No Narth has ever encountered one of these, but we know the Pree and the Uni both have, making this being in it is the same much older than a mere million standard years.” “Only to a Narth could 1 million years appear as mere, but why Work-group Olympus? Why not sending an Explorer or two with a team of Xeno Biologists and perhaps a team of First Contact specialists ?” Alyn of course new the answer but wanted it to be spoke anyway. Dr. Brightmoon said. “Because it has been a legend and myth and there is the possibility we are dealing with an Entity of another plane of existence. Dealing with such phenomenon is what Work-group Olympus does.” Alyn nodded. “I guess I start at the place it was sighted last and on my way to that Colony, I digest what Jorku has dug up.” – Another conference on Pluribus, almost two hundred kilometers distant in the top floor of SII Needle II , the highest building in the known galaxy, piercing the planets atmosphere was taking place in a closed board room. Present were twenty beings of SII –Black Ops and the CEO of SII- Propulsion Development , a gleaming chrome skinned member of the Sentmac race known as X101 . The sentient android wore an expensive business suit in the traditional Kimo cut and since he was a 799 series had the taste upgrade that was the hallmark of this series. He had taken the strange Terran born habit of smoking . A thick cigar produced a dense cloud of bluish smoke around his artificial face , but did not waft past the invisible enviro-screen projected by the climate control of the room. The beings present also looked at the recording made on the distant colony. The CEO of this Schwartz Intergalactic Industries division . His name was Tristor . The Sentmac of Planet Factory generally and despite their artificial nature had a reputation of having warm and friendly personalities. Not so Tristor, he was known to be utterly cold and efficient and had no moral or ethical handicaps whatsoever preventing him to reach the goals and objectives he set. Those who knew him were certain that these character traits were the fact that Tristor was friends with the perhaps most ruthless person in the known universe, Rex Schwartz the CEO of SII and the richest individual in the Union. Tristor gestured towards the repeating images. “Gentlebeings , these images proof that the Trans-spatial Hyper slugs , the Seenians reported to have seen so long ago really exist. The Seenian Queen saw the value and so have we. Whatever makes that thing traverse space is a potential new propulsion technology. I want to know how it works, what fuel it takes, what organ causes it to function and how this being controls arti grav to float like this.” One of the beings present, a Klack also wearing a business suit, but his cut in the more modern sailor style raised one of his feelers and Tristor nodded. The Klack was head of SII Communications and he said. “We have intelligence that Enroe also received a copy of this footage. It is no far stretch of imagination that they too will commit considerable resources to obtain that slug.” “No doubt, that's why I authorize Wet tactics .” Wet tactics was a nice clean word for murder and killing if needed, because blood was wet. Dyktor , sitting at the other end of the conference table also was an artificial being and classified by Union science as Sentmac (Sentient Machine) however Dyktor was one of the truly ancient sentient robots found at the Seenian depot. Unlike the robots active under Master Servant , it and the 3000 Seenian robots had been in a crate marked as “defective” and classified as bad by the Master Servant. All three thousand of these so called bad sentient robots of a tech level 11 society had found employment with SII, utterly loyal to Rex Schwartz alone. Dyktor was now the head of SII Black , the special mission department of SII Security . Dyktor and the others weren't engineers like the other Seenian robots , but had been originally conceived as special forces robots for the Seenian empire that had been destroyed so long ago. Dyktor produced a satisfied smile on the Bioflex mask that covered his Nitronium skull.”I will take steps to make sure no one else will benefit form whatever we cut out of that flying monstrosity.” Tristor could not smile, facial muscles to express emotions were planned by Mothermachine to be introduced into the 802nd series . However he would have if he could and said. “You are a robot after my own ego center, Mr. Dyktor. You have Alpha approval for unrestricted resources.” – Michael invited the neatly dressed man into the living room of his farm house. “Please come in, my wife is preparing dinner. We don't use a foot printer but I promise you a treat. She is famous in the entire colony for her cooking.” “I have no doubt, Mr. Horlik. As a argi-product buyer I prefer to taste real food, natural sourced. The galaxy is a hungry place and the demand for natural sourced food is growing every year.” “I am, well we all of this colony are banking on this fact. The local herbs and grasses are well accepted for our Terran sourced goats and they are thriving. I was selling my products at the Xchange but I have to admit, Sir a contract with Silver Hawk Emporium sure sounds very attractive.” “That is why I am here, we purchased your goat cheese from the Xchange and like the quality. Of course a contract with us would mean you need to expand, bigger herds . Tending bots and the lot.” There is plenty room for expansion. We are only 20,000 and this is a big planet. However, I spent the entire BoCA grant already and a single John Deere Herd Bot costs over 20,000 credits.” “Mr. Horlik,I am not taking about a few 100 kilos of Cheese every year, but a few thousand tons , along with goat milk, goat meat, hides even manure has value. We are of course willing to invest a few million to get you started. It is more or less a done deal,pending on your conditions. There is just one thing of course, we heard that there is some sort of monster and we wanted to make sure it won't be a factor that could disturb such an investment, you understand.” TBC Category:Fragments